Hullabaloo’s Beau Billy ByU
Billy was the left over puppy no one wanted. I took him home to give Melinda a break and a chance to spend her time with the
puppy she kept. I didn’t want a puppy, but after two weeks with me I knew Billy would never leave my side.
Billy was a serious puppy that always wanted to be right. I started using him when he was about 7 or 8 months old to move my
stock around because he was so easy. Normally I would wait until a year or a year and a half to start a pup. He wanted to please me
and was one of the strongest dogs on the head I had ever worked. He had to learn patience and wanted to hit anything very hard
that faced him. He did learn and today gives almost everything a chance to move before using his teeth. Billy for me is the epitome
of the good, honest, farm/ranch Australian Shepherd. Billy is pushy but controllable. He is kind to his stock and they quickly
become gentle under his shepherding yet never refuse to mind him. Billy’s goats are funny, they will get up on their hind legs and
threaten but know better than to carry through with the threat! He just stands there and looks at them until the do what he wants.
When he understands the chores, he flies from one job to the other, never slacking off even when he is hurt. Billy gives me 100%
every time I ask. He gathers, sorts, drives and guards feed troughs while I pour out the feed. With his help I can worm all my sheep
and goats, about 75 head right now, in about an hour using an alleyway and area where I can squeeze 4 to 5 animals at a time. Most
of this work is done without commands as he is familiar with the routine. Billy will work anything I ask him too but his love is cattle.
The first time I asked him to work chickens, he went around them like he would with ducks or goats. If you know chickens, they go
the opposite way one expects and one ran directly under his belly. Billy’s expression was priceless, complete astonishment!
Even though most of his work at home is “on his own”, Billy is willing to give me control in the trial arena. Most of our trialing
disagreements stem from his pushy nature. I am usually trying to slow him down. By the same token, Billy often has to cover for my
mistakes in timing etc. He will work out wide and slow when needed and reads his stock very well. Billy is equally comfortable on
calves, sheep, goats or ducks.
When Billy was young I developed severe back problems. He had to take over all of the stock work with almost no help from me. He
stepped up to the plate and made it happen. I will always be in awe of what he did for me. I was eventually bedridden and had to
sell all the stock. Melinda May took all my dogs, including Billy, to her home for over a month while I had surgery and started the
recovery period. I will always be grateful to the May’s for their help and kindness. When Billy came home my recovery continued
but it was 6 months before I could stand up straight and a year before I had animals for him to work again. He never left my side as
my health slowly improved. Taking care of me became his job. He did not like to sleep on my bed because it was too hot but would
get on the bed and not get off until he thought I was asleep and he was sure I was OK. He stayed by my side as I was able to walk
farther and farther every day. Billy has always been great in the house never chewing on anything, never getting on the furniture or
the cabinets. He cleans himself like a cat and rarely needs a bath. One accident on the rug and a “fussing at” was all it took for
housebreaking. Of course Melinda started that.
Billy is protective toward me and my place but not foolish about it. He has threatened to bite a few times but has never bitten
anyone. He doesn’t like other adult male dogs near me and will grumble. Yet he raises my puppies for me.
As no animal or person is without faults Billy has his also. He does not like to heel but both of his parents were good heelers so he
should pass it on. He did heel and hit a foreleg when he was young, but I fussed at him and he got kicked and today doesn’t heel.
His father had his strength on the head, his mother stronger on the heel. When I send Billy out of sight to gather the pasture, he has
a tendency to circle the stock, to shut down the movement, rather than bring them straight in to me if he can’t see me. But he gets
them to me eventually. This is probably my fault as I have used him for driving (pushing stock away from me) since he was very
young. Billy will not bite a baby lamb, kid or calf which can be irritating when I am trying to move them somewhere. He will wear
back and forth around them and nothing moves unless he accidentally bumps into them. He has learned just this spring to move
baby Kids and does it by bumping them with the side of his mouth when they are running in the wrong direction. Billy will pinch an
adult, but does no real damage on sheep and goats. He does have a hard bite and has blooded noses when a ewe, ram, buck, or cow
won’t move or tries to hit him. If I could add anything to him I would give him a bit more instinct, maybe a little bit better sense of
group but that is being real picky. Billy always gets his job done.
I knew what I had in Billy, knew that he was an exceptional dog, when he was just a pup and had him collected him twice. There is
enough frozen semen for several breedings in case something happens to him. I lost the best dog I ever worked, Straw Puppy,
because I did not collect him. Straw was closely related to Billy. Actually when I think about it, in many ways Billy is the better dog
of the two.
Billy finished his ASCA WTCH in March 2013 in Stockdale, Texas scoring over 100 in eight of nine runs and over 110 in four of those
runs. He was HIT in two of three trials with 117 in sheep and a 117 in cattle. Judges were Marti Parrish and Preston Kissman. I
trialed him again in MO under Rick Hardin. He placed third in sheep with an 82, first in ducks with 109 and HIT with 113 in cattle. He
finished his AHBA HRDIIIs, HTADIIIs in one trial in Edmond, Oklahoma with judges Bonnie Daley and Susan Abrams. His scores were
over 90 out of 100 in all but two runs. One was 89 and in the other we ended up with ducks in every corner!
Anyway this is a bit about life with Billy.
Dana Mackenzie